Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) said on Friday that it would wind down its business in Russia.
Deutsche had faced stinging criticism from some investors and politicians on Friday for its ongoing ties to Russia after saying that leaving would go against its values, as other banks cut off ties.
“Like some international peers and in line with our legal and regulatory obligations, we are in the process of winding down our remaining business in Russia while we help our non-Russian multinational clients in reducing their operations,” the bank said on Friday.
“There won’t be any new business in Russia.”
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has announced that the United States would suspend normal trade relations with Russia, in just the latest coordinated move with G7 and EU nations to punish Moscow for its military aggression in Ukraine.
The move would allow for the imposition of tariffs on Russian exports including seafood, vodka and diamonds – in the latest crushing blow to the flailing Russian economy.
“Each of our nations is going to take steps to deny most favored nation status to Russia. A most favored nation status designation means two countries have agreed to trade with each other under the best possible terms low tariffs, a few barriers of trade, and the highest possible imports allowed in the United States. We call this permanent normal trade relations PNTR. But it’s the same thing. Revoking PNTR for Russia is going to make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States. And doing it in unison with other nations that make up half of the global economy will be another crushing blow to the Russian economy – it’s already suffering very badly from our sanctions.”
